The present invention relates to systems and methods used in down hole applications. More particularly, the present invention relates to the setting of a down hole tool in various down hole applications using pressure differentials between various fluid chambers surrounding or in the vicinity of the down hole tool.
In the course of treating and preparing a subterranean well for production, down hole tools, such as well packers, are commonly run into the well on a tubular conveyance such as a work string, casing string, or production tubing. The purpose of the well packer is not only to support the production tubing and other completion equipment, such as sand control assemblies adjacent to a producing formation, but also to seal the annulus between the outside of the tubular conveyance and the inside of the well casing or the wellbore itself. As a result, the movement of fluids through the annulus and past the deployed location of the packer is substantially prevented.
Some well packers are designed to be set using complex electronics that often fail or may otherwise malfunction in the presence of corrosive and/or severe down hole environments. Other well packers require that a specialized plug or other wellbore device be sent down the well to set the packer. While reliable in some applications, these and other methods of setting well packers add additional and unnecessary complexity and cost to the pack off process.